DNA helps police 'solve' 1975 Joan Harrison murder

9 February 2011 Last updated at 09:03 ET Help

Police in Lancashire believe they may have solved a 35-year-old murder case thanks to advances in DNA evidence.

Joan Harrison, 26, who was found dead in a derelict garage in Preston in 1975, was once thought to have been killed by the Yorkshire Ripper.

But detectives said DNA found at the scene matched that of Christopher Smith from Leeds, who died in 2008 aged 60.

The Crown Prosecution Service said police had gathered enough evidence to charge him with murder if he was alive.

Ed Thomas reports.

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